Lion king no more: Africa’s most handsome lion slain by younger rivals

Bob Jr., who was hailed as Africa’s most photogenic lion, has been killed by his rivals. He was between 10 and 13 years old.

The striking lion with amber eyes and a golden-black mane – who was named after his father, dubbed Bob Marley by tour guides after the famed Jamaican reggae singer, because of his lustrous, distinctive hair – once ruled over his pride in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. Local media and wildlife tour groups said the “Serengeti King” was killed over the weekend by a pack of younger, fitter lions – and some may have been related to him.

Bob Jr., also known as Snyggve, “was just always an exceptionally handsome animal,” Craig Packer, professor and director of the lion research centre at the University of Minnesota, said via telephone from the neighbouring Maasai Mara reserve.

“This male lived in an area where he was very visible and would just knock your socks off because he was so good looking,” Packer said of Bob Jr. “He had such a luxurious and impressive mane that people would immediately react to that, and all he had to do was sit up.”